I have few (sort of big) issues with this book, but I'm not gonna let them rule the rating, because this is a very likable book for teens and young adults. It has nice character development, believable storyline (so far at least) and reasonable relationships. It's coherent and well-built (and written). Which are things most of the teen/YA dystopias and fantasies don't usually seem to achieve - at least not all of those. My problem with this book is mainly related to the explanation of aether - the explanation which does not exist. Is it magical? Electrical? Sort of combination of both? Where did it come from? Why do some things attract it? It plays a huge role in the book and it's not explained at all. Just that it came and it makes everything miserable as hell. The other thing is that some of the "scientific" parts of the book are just nonsense. Like the limbic system stuff and how it'd become messed up.

I don't know what to say since Tim summarized it pretty nicely. I read the series in Finnish when I was around 13-14 years old and this is one of the two series which I can honestly say truly affected or changed the way I started to think or see things. I consider these books essential part of all that which made me who I am - and therefore I cannot really review these, only thank mr. Pullman.